What is Discord Canary & How to Download (Is it Safe?)

Ever heard of Discord Canary? - See what is Discord Canary, its features, how to download and install it, and finally who all should be using Discord Canary.

discord canary build

Discord Canary is the alpha test release version of the original Discord. Before pushing the update with new features and bug fixes to the stable version, these are tested on Discord Canary to see if everything is okay. Only after testing it on the Canary version of Discord, all these features and bug fixes will reach the stable version.

Discord is the most popular VoIP-based communication chat software used by millions of people around the globe. It is mostly used by gamers for that matter. Software developers often have to release newer versions of the software with either bug fixes, new features, or both.

In this situation, the features and bug fixes are not directly sent to the stable version used by more than 95% of the community. For this, there will be an alpha test version. A few selected people will be given access to Canary build and check for problems or issues.

discord canary build

In this article, you will find What is Discord Canary, its specialties, how to download and install it, and finally is Discord Canary safe?.

What is Discord Canary

For starters, whenever there are new features or bug fixes for a software, it is not directly applied to the stable package of that particular software itself. Before it reaches the stable version, it will be thoroughly tested in an alpha version. And access to this alpha build will be limited. Similar is the case with Discord.

There is a special version of Discord called “Discord Canary”, which is the alpha test version of the original stable version. Whenever there is a bug fix or new feature, it is first tested on Canary build and if no problems are found then it will be pushed to the stable version.

Since it is an alpha version, there might be bugs, crashing issues, and other bunch of problems. If you use Canary build of Discord and faces some sort of issue then you can report the same to their official team.

You can continue using all sorts of features like adding bots for Discord, using various commands and all other activities will work just fine.

Not just Discord, tons of other software developers do the same. Some of you might be already aware of Google Chrome Canary or Android Studio Canary. These are alpha test builds where the developer tries out different new features and of course bug fixes.

What is Discord Public Test Build (PTB)

After pushing new features and bug fixes to the Canary build of Discord, if no issues are found then it is then pushed to the Discord Public Test Build version. This version of Discord has much more exposure to the public than the Canary version.

After testing all features on the PTB version, then finally it is made available on the stable version for mass.

Now that you have some idea regarding Discord Canary, let’s see who all should use this.

Who is Discord Canary for?

As mentioned earlier, Discord Canary might come with half-cooked features, bugs, crashing problems and the software itself might not be stable. So only use Canary build if you know what you are doing.

I would recommend Discord Canary only if you are a software developer, someone who wants to test Canary build, report issues, and help the Discord team, or a Discord enthusiast. If you are a regular user of Discord then it won’t be a good idea to use Discord Canary as your main software.

If you are that interested in trying new features before anyone else does, then I would suggest you use both Stable builds as well as Canary build. This way, even if something goes wrong, you can switch to the stable version and continue using the same.

Availability of Discord Canary

The stable version of Discord is available for the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Similarly, Discord Canary is also available for all these versions.

You can download the latest version of Discord Canary from their official website and install it.

If you are about to access the web version of Discord Canary then go to this page – Discord Canary Web. (Please note that some features like Push to Talk won’t be available in the web version)

For Android and iOS, you have to join the Discord Testers server in order to get the beta build or Discord beta for Android and iOS. At the time of writing this article, there are more than 267,000 people on the server.

discord canary server

How to Download Discord Canary and Install it

Installing Discord is super simple and pretty similar to what you would do with the stable version. Follow the step-by-step guide below to download and install Discord Canary on your PC running Windows, macOS, or Linux. If you are an Android or iOS user then follow the instructions on the Discord Testers server.

Step 1: Download the latest build of Discord Canary for your computer from the link given above.

Step 2: Once downloaded, double click on the installer and install the software as you would normally do. It might install a few new updates and packages,

Step 3: After the installation is done, it will launch itself. Now you have to log in to your Discord account. For this, you are not required to have any special account or anything. You can use your same Discord account to log in to Discord Canary, too.

login to discord canary

Now, you have successfully installed Discord on your computer.

Is Discord Canary Safe?

Yes, Discord Canary is 100 percent safe and secure. The only thing is that the Canary build might not be stable and you might face some bugs or other issues. Other than that, everything is pretty safe in Discord Canary.

Discord Canary is from the official Discord team itself. So you can trust it as you do with the stable version.

Conclusion

This is everything you need to know about Discord Canary, its uses, and how to install it. By now you might have got a full idea regarding Discord Canary, who is for, and finally whether or not you should be using Discord Canary as well.

Ajay is an active cybersecurity analyst and helps companies find and fix bugs and vulnerabilities. He is an ardent fan and power Linux user. His area of expertise includes Linux and Cybersecurity side of things.